Project Support Officer - Cost

Alexander Associates Technical Recruitment; Bristol; Hybrid; GBP 45,000 - 65,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading recruitment agency is seeking a Project Support Officer to support Defence Digital projects in Bristol. This mid-senior level position includes responsibilities for maintaining accurate cost forecasts, tracking risks, and managing benefits. The ideal candidate will have strong analytical, organizational, and communication skills, along with experience in cost management, forecasting, and familiarity with Agile and Waterfall methodologies. A Prince2 certification is preferred. This is a contract role requiring security clearance due to project nature.

Qualifications

• Experience in project cost management and financial control.
• Familiarity with Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid delivery methodologies.
• Strong analytical, organisational, and communication skills.
• Familiarity with Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid delivery.
• Prince2 Certified.
• Defence, MOD, or public sector experience.

Responsibilities

• Maintain project budgets, cost baselines, and forecasts.
• Track actual costs and highlight variances.
• Maintain risk, issue, and assumption registers.
• Prepare cost, risk, and benefits inputs for governance.
• Coordinate with teams for cost and risk inputs.
• Prepare cost, risk, and benefits inputs for governance packs and dashboards.

Skills

Strong analytical skills

Organisational skills

Communication skills

Experience with Agile methodologies

Experience with Waterfall methodologies

Cost variance understanding

Financial control experience

Prince2 Certification

Stakeholder coordination

Job description

Recruitment Specialist within Cyber Security & Defence IT

Project Support Officer - Cost

• Based in Bristol & Andover 2 times per week

*Please note this role requires security clearance due to the nature of the project

Role Overview

The Project Support Officer will support Defence Digital projects by maintaining accurate cost forecasts, tracking risks and issues, and supporting benefits management and governance. The role focuses on ensuring cost control, affordability, and transparency across complex digital and defence programmes.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintain project budgets, cost baselines, and forecasts aligned to approved business cases.
• Track actual costs, commitments, and forecasts (EAC/ETC), highlighting variances and affordability risks.
• Support cost analysis and earned value or equivalent reporting where required.

Risk, Issue & Assumptions

• Maintain risk, issue, and assumption registers with a focus on cost and benefits impact.
• Track mitigations and ensure risks and issues are reflected in cost forecasts and reporting.
• Support escalation through appropriate governance forums.

Benefits Management

• Maintain benefits registers and track progress against agreed baselines.
• Support benefits reporting for governance boards and approvals.
• Ensure benefits assumptions align with cost forecasts and identified risks.

Governance & Reporting

• Prepare cost, risk, and benefits inputs for governance packs and dashboards.
• Support reporting cycles and ensure adherence to Defence Digital controls and standards.

Project Support

• Coordinate with Project Managers, Finance, Commercial teams, and suppliers to gather cost and risk inputs.
• Support meetings, action tracking, and documentation related to cost and benefits.
• Experience supporting project cost management, forecasting, or financial control.
• Understanding of cost variance, forecasting, and benefits tracking.
• Strong analytical, organisational, and communication skills.
• Familiarity with Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid delivery.
• Prince2 Certified.
• Defence, MOD, or public sector experience.

Seniority level: Mid-Senior level

Employment type: Contract

Job function: Consulting and Information Technology

Industries: Defense and Space Manufacturing, IT Services and IT Consulting, and Business Consulting and Services